莉丝·默里 (Liz Murray) 是一位美国励志演讲者 (a motivational speaker)。
出身贫穷，无家可归的她奋斗不息，以全优的成绩考入哈佛大学。
莉丝将这段鼓舞人心的经历写入自传——《风雨哈佛路》(Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard)。
书中记载了十五岁花季少女的生活遭遇，在她面前，是耽迷于毒品的父母，虽然疼爱自己的女儿，但吸毒占据了他们的生活重心。
随着父母的毒瘾越来越严重，贫穷和疾病（莉丝的父母先后被验出患上艾滋病）也携手袭来。
影版女主角Thora Birch
在学校，莉丝因为衣衫褴褛，浑身异味而被周围人轻视、排斥。
无家可归的她最终流落于街头，辗转于公园长椅和地铁站，只为有一席之地度过漫漫长夜。
母亲的离世让莉丝痛悟，人生要掌握在自己手中，不能一味地等待时来运转。
她决定重拾学业，白天上课，晚上上夜校，用两年的时间完成高中四年的学业。
她的努力最终得到了回报，她获得了《纽约时报》全额奖学金，如愿进入了哈佛高等学府。
接下来让我们读一些撼动人心的句子吧~
Instead, what I was beginning to understand was that however things unfolded from here on, whatever the next chapter was, my life could never be the sum of one circumstance. It would be determined, as it had always been, by my willingness to put one foot in front of the other, moving forward, come what may.
然而，我开始明白，不管面前我的遭遇是什么，我的明天会怎样，我的人生绝不可能因为一个境况而定下结论。它只会一如始终地决定于我的意愿，决定于我的前进，一步一个脚印，不管未来会如何。
In the years ahead of me, I learned that the world is actually filled with people ready to tell you how likely something is, and what it means to be realistic. But what I have also learned is that no one, no one truly knows what is possible until they go and do it.
在过去的这些年里，我学会了在这个世上，很多人乐意告诉你事情的发展轨迹，告诉你什么是现实。但同时我也学会了，没有人，没有一个人真真正正地知道人生的可能性，除非他们抬脚向前走。
But avoidance allows you to believe that you're making all kinds of strides when you're not.
然而逃避允许你去相信你在阔步向前走，虽然事实上你并没有。
Life has a way of doing that; one minute everything makes sense, the next, things change. People get sick. Families break apart, your friends could close the door on you.
生命有自己运行的规律。上一秒，一切都在情理之中。但下一秒，变化接踵而来。人病倒了，家破裂了，朋友把你拒之门外。
Many nights, I longed for home. But it occurred to me as I struggled for a feeling of comfort and safety: I have no idea where home is.
有许多日日夜夜，思家的情绪将我包围。但只有在我想要感到自在和安全的时候，我才会有想家的渴望。我不知道家在哪。
After all, isn’t that what really draws the line between childhood and adulthood, knowing that you are solely responsible for yourself? If so, then my childhood ended at fifteen.
毕竟，童年和成年的分水岭难道不就是你是否意识到你是自己的唯一负责人吗？如果是这样的话，我的童年结束在十五岁。
I was inspired by a question that kept repeating itself in my mind: Could I really change my life? I’d spent so many days, weeks, months, and years thinking about doing things with my life, and now I wanted to know, if I committed to a goal and woke up every single day working hard at it, could I change my life?
一个问题引起了我的思考，它不断出现在我的脑海——我真的可以改变我的人生吗？在多少个四季轮回里，我按部就班地想着、做着我的人生要求我想、我做的事情。现在，我想知道，如果我致力于完成一个目标，醒着的每时每刻都在为它奋斗，我可以改变我的人生吗？
Dream, but don't sleep.
有梦，但不要睡着。
On one side of the wall there was society, and on the other side there was me, us, the people in the place I come from. Separate.
在墙的一边是社会，另一边是我，我们和来自社会底层的人。我们和这个社会格格不入。
Homeless person or business person, doctor or teacher, whatever your background may be, the same holds true for each of us: life takes on the meaning that you give it.
不管你的背景是什么，流浪者或商人，医生或老师，对我们每个人而言道理都一样——人生的意义需要你来赋予。
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
上帝使我能够冷静地接受不可改变的，能够有勇气改变可以改变的，并且让我知道如何区分什么是可以改变的，什么是不可以改变的。
